becoming the telephone company's top executive in California. But you wouldn't know it from looking at his paycheck.

Smith, who was named president of Pacific Bell Telephone Co. in May, earned $705,600 last year, down 39 percent from 2001, according to a company filing with state regulators. The 59-year-old was previously Pac Bell's president of network services. Pacific Bell (also known as SBC California) is the state's largest telephone company.

SBC spokesman John Britton said Smith received a smaller bonus because the unit's profit tumbled 35 percent to $1 billion last year. The unit's revenue also slid 6 percent, as customers ordered fewer phone lines or switched to rivals like AT&T and MCI.

Still, many other SBC workers in California earned a pay raise last year.

Overall, Pac Bell said it employed about 1,830 people -- mostly managers -- earning more than $75,000 last year, up 8 percent from 2001. Of those, more than 1 in 4 pulled down six figures, according to the documents filed with the state Public Utilities Commission.

Under state regulations, Pacific Bell and other utilities in California are required once a year to list the names, titles and salaries of workers earning more than $75,000.

Despite the tough year, Britton noted that most employees normally receive annual raises -- boosting the number of well-paid workers in the state.

But the number of high-paid SBC workers in California could begin shrinking in future filings. That's because SBC, which has about 50,000 workers in California, mostly under the Pac Bell umbrella, recently cut thousands of jobs in the state.

The filings also include information about Pacific Bell's legal fees and philanthropy.

SBC said Pac Bell's legal fees soared to more than $64 million last year, up from about $47 million last year. Britton cited rising benefit costs and the need to hire outside attorneys to handle a growing case load but declined to explain why its legal work increased.

Because of the drop in profit, SBC Communications also said it slashed its charitable giving in California by 18 percent last year to $14.1 million. One of the largest recipients was the Community Technology Foundation of California, a San Francisco nonprofit that makes grants intended to ease the "digital divide."

Verizon Communications, the dominant local phone company in Southern California and a handful of cities in the Bay Area, said about 660 of its workers cracked the $75,000 pay level.

Regional President Deborah Anders earned $395,886 last year, down less than 1 percent from 2001, making her the top paid person for Verizon California.